In contrast to other animals, however, the longest-lived rodent is the
naked mole rat, which is about the size of a mouse.
Dr Joao Pedro Magalhaes, from the Institute of Integrative Biology, said: "The
naked mole rat has fascinated scientists for many years, but it was not until a few years ago we discovered it could live for such a long period of time.
Naked mole rats are neither moles or rats, but more closely related to porcupines, chinchillas and guinea pigs and have an expected captive lifespan of 30 years.
Cancer is the cause of death in nearly all laboratory mice that die naturally, but cancer has never been observed in a
naked mole rat. Normal cells are limited in the number of times they can divide, but cancer cells often have the enzyme telomerase, which allows them to divide an unlimited number of times.
They then showed that when HMW-HA was removed, the cells became susceptible to tumors, confirming that the chemical did play a role in making
naked mole rats cancer-proof.
After identifying HMW-HA as the culprit, the researchers examined its role in the cancer resistance of
naked mole rats. Removing HMW-HA from
naked mole rat tissue cultures made the tissue susceptible to tumor growth.
Naked mole rats stay underground all their lives, finding roots by tunnelling hundreds of metres from their breeding chambers.
KEEPERS caught up with our fascinating
naked mole rats to give them health checks and new names.
Because of my research into the molecular mechanisms of aging and cancer, I maintain the second largest colony of
naked mole rats in the world.
Their research found that a specific gene-p16-makes the cancerous cells in
naked mole rats hypersensitive to overcrowding, and stops them from proliferating when too many crowd together.
Aging researchers, for example, recently zeroed in on the brain protein Neuregulin 1, or NRG-1, finding that
naked mole rats had the most plentiful and persistent supply of it among all the rodent species they studied.
When life gives
naked mole rats lemons, the wrinkled, bucktoothed rodents probably don't care.